The Spaniards continuously visited North America in the 16th century, and since then, Spanish has been spoken in America. The first Spaniard visiting America was Juan Ponce de Leon in 1513, and since then, several ships have arrived in America. They were the first people to reach the Mississippi River, the Appalachian Mountains, Great Plains, and the Grand Canyon. Their main mission was an exploration of the American continent. The Spaniards founded St Augustine in Florida in 1565, which is the oldest settlement in the US.
The Spanish-speaking people population has increased tremendously, and they are the majority of the minority groups in the US and form 14.8% of the American population. The Hispanic group consists of Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Salvadorans, Spanish, and Dominicans, among others. They have a population growth rate of 3.6%, which is three times that of the US at 1%, and it’s therefore approximated that by the year 2050, they might constitute 25% of the US population. With reference to their place of origin, the Hispanics constitute the largest ethnic group in the US, with 49% of their total population living in California. Hispanic persons include whites, Amerindians, Asians, or multiracial.
Many of the immigrants into the US from the Hispanic countries were as a result of economic and political forces, especially in Cuba where the professionals and businessmen ran away from Fidel Castro’s reign and in Mexico due to the economic shock between 1970 and 1990. The emigrants from Mexico were mainly the poor from Northern Mexico, Mexico City, and the Amerindians who inhabited the south of Mexico. The high crime rate from the Mexican migration is attributed to the poverty of the emigrants. Cuban Americans are the highest-paid Americans of Hispanic origin while the Dominicans Americans are the least paid, each earning $38733 and $28467 respectively, while other Hispanics fall in between them by the year 2002.
In reference to levels of education, Cuban Americans registered the highest high school graduates with 68.7%, while the Mexican Americans recorded the least with 48.7%. The 2000 census indicated that the Cuban Americans, the Central and South Americans had the highest college graduates with 19.4% and 16%, respectively, each attaining a college degree at the age of 25 years and above, while the Dominican Americans only registered 62% of college graduates. Among the Hispanic Americans, the Cuban Americans have the highest attainment of graduate degrees.
The poverty rate is highest among the Dominican Americans that have a poverty rate of 29.9% while the Cuban Americans have the lowest poverty rate of 12.9% while others Americans of Hispanic origin lie in between them.
The Americans of Hispanic origin have a different political ideology; the majority, who are Mexican Americans, support the Democratic Party while the minority, who include the Colombians and Cubans, support the Republican’s political ideology. Since the Mexican Americans are the majority, the Hispanics are therefore said to support the liberals, which is the Democratic Party.
Though the Hispanics have different cultural backgrounds, they have several unifying factors, with the majority speaking English and Spanish. The media uses both Hispanic language English in public addresses since the incorporation of the National Hispanic Media Coalition in 1986 that advocated the use of Latino in film, television, and radio.
References
- Spanish Immigration to the United.
- We the People: Hispanics in the United States. Web.
- Hispanics Now Largest U.S. Minority States.